In terms of accident per mile statistics, air travel is considered the safest means of travel, however, occasionally aircraft accidents do occur for a variety of reasons. As a result of extensive news coverage surrounding aircraft accidents, it is a widely held belief that most accidents result in total destruction of the craft and the demise of all aboard. While occasionally such accidents do occur, many aircraft accidents result in no fatalities, while other accidents result in numerous and avoidable fatalities. Avoidable fatilities typically arise due to the inhalation of smoke or toxic fumes prior to disembarcation from the craft or as the consequence of exposure to severe and adverse climatic conditions.
Considerable effort has been expended in terms of materials and systems aboard aircraft to minimize the threat of fire, smoke, or toxic fumes to passengers. Little effort, however, has been expended on means to protect passengers against accidental hypothermia as the result of exposure to intense cold such as occasioned by immersion in cold ocean waters.
It is mandated that aircraft which fly over water be equipped with life vests and other floatation devices for passengers and crew, however, no provisions are typically made to protect survivorsof an aircraft carrier from the debilitating effects of cold resulting from water immersion or resulting from a forced landing in an isolated area in high latitudes. In view of the great numbers of over-water flights, accidental hypothermia represents an omnipresent threat in civil aviation, even considering the admirable record of safety evidenced in recent years. In the northern hemisphere, for example, there are few places and times of the year when immersion conditions do not pose a threat to life due to hypothermia. Studies made by the Aerospace Medical Panel of the North Atlantic Treat Organization Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) recorded an annual mean value of only 92 days during which water temperatures in three northern bodies of water (Western Baltic, Heligoland Bight and the Atlantic Ocean off Brest) are greater than 15.degree. C. (59.degree. F.. Ocean waters off both coasts of the United States and Canada, depending upon latitude, range from 10.degree. C. to 20.degree. C. (50.degree. F. to 68.degree. F.) during the winter. It has been reported that, if an unprotected man were immersed to the shoulders in 15.degree. C. (59.degree. F. ) water, he could not be expected to survive for more than one to two hours since hypothermic death is likely to occur if the body core temperature drops below 28.degree. C. (82.degree. F.).
The concept of providing aircraft passengers and crew a means to protect themselves against accidental hypothermia upon the accidental downing of an aircraft is not of itself an original concept. Air crew on military over-water flights either wear or have ready access to anti-exposure clothing. However, it has been noted that such anti-exposure clothing is relatively bulky, making it too cumbersome and bulky for in-flight use. In civil aviation, it is not practical to require passengers to don such garments in anticipation of the remote likelihood that the garment would be needed.
Accordingly, there is need for an anti-exposure suit which is light, compact, easily stored, and provides protection against hypothermic injury or death. The need for a suit which provides such protection is not limited to situations in which immersion in frigid waters is possible since accidental hypothermia may result in any environment of extreme cold, such as may be found in the latitudes of northern and southern hemispheres, on isolated mountain tops, or when individuals may be stranded in snow. It is further desirable that such a garment be particularly adapted to facilitate visual sighting of a wearer and thereby increase the probability of rescue.